SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD: Stories from the Lotus Sutra

Dogen-Zenji so cherished the Lotus Sutra that he actually carved a selection of it into his door. This, the core text of not only Zen but the whole of Mahayana Buddhism, has never lost its appeal among practitioners of the Way. Join us for our SPRING PRACTICE PERIOD: Stories From the Lotus Sutra led by Sensei Joshin Byrnes, Sensei Genzan Quennell

What Do You Call “The World?” (“Miracle of Each Moment” Rohatsu Sesshin Part 4)

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Episode Description: “We’re buried in miracles,” said Kaz — to which Daniel Ellsberg replied: “I’m not sure I’d feel that way if I were being tortured.” This koan has stayed with Kaz deeply. One important insight along the way has been: our ability to grieve unrestrainedly — to feel shame straight to the bottom for human cruelties, and not turn away — is itself a transformative miracle.

So what is it to feel the world so thoroughly? It depends, says Roshi Joan, on what we call “the world” and what we call “myself.” Am I a “clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making [me] happy” (G.B. Shaw) — or something to be used up entirely by the community of beings?

And what is “the world?” R.D. Laing says: “the range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice.” Is our subjectivity limited to our psychological history, or is it a subjectivity of this whole unbounded moment? The answer may be determined by the unglamorous work of embodied presence — which shapes our nervous system, character, and fate.